CPE 3 - Evening - Collaborative Writing

It had been an uneventful day at work, and as he drove home at his usual leisurely pace, he thought about how much his life had changed after his divorce from his ten-year marriage to his high school sweetheart. He now had all the time in the world for his friends, for his gambling, for his numerous girlfriends. There was now more money at his disposal (she hadn't wanted anything from him, apart from distance), less stress, no more quarrels. He wasn't deliriously happy, at least not yet, but he was well on the way. "This is better", he told himself when pangs of solitude hit him every now and then. "This is much better".

Upon parking his shiny brand new blue SUV in his ample two-car driveway, he noticed with a bit of a shock the door to his house was slightly ajar. A split second later, however, it dawned on him it could only be Linda, his former wife, back for something she'd forgotten, like his wallet, for instance. Angrily he shot up the driveway towards the door, thinking that it was only fair he'd give her a piece of his mind, for it was not right for her to just pop up uninvitedly whenever she saw fit. Scarcely had he set foot in his house, though, when he realized he couldn't have been more wrong. "I've changed the locks", he finally realized, "and there is no way this coat on the table could ever be Linda's".

He thought for a moment about calling the police when a strange noise came from inside. He couldn't do anything but enter his living room from where some different light was coming from. He had no time to gaze at a thing. In the moment he stepped into the room, a person came behind him and blindfolded him while another one - whithout a word - tied his hands very tight.

The two people sat him on the couch and less than two minutes later - which were an eternity for him - he heard music! A calm and relaxing song was playing on his stereo. "Those guys gotta be kidding", he thought. With no time for another thought, he felt a hand on his tend. A soft touch made him think he was dreaming. It was a smooth skin and he could swear he'd never felt such a great perfume before.

The person took his blindfold off and then he was shocked. Two incredibly beautiful women, 'dressed to kill', sexy as the devil were in front of him dancing on his dining table to the very sensual music. He could see only a few parts of them because the light came just from two or three lit candles over the place. Immediately he imagined which friends of his could have prepared such a surprise like that and decided to enjoy it. His hands were not available, so it took him a long time to get up and reach the light switch. When he turned the lights on and turned around to face the girls on the table, he got really confused. They had simply disappeared!

For a moment, he thought he had gone completely insane, he couldn’t understand what that was all about. Speechless, he went outside again, checked for his car and as everything seemed to be alright with his car and in the street he locked the door and went back inside. He was perplexed about all the little details of what had just happened. How could that possibly have happened? As he got angry again from the scary experience, he tried to be rational about it all.

First, he tried calling a few of his friends just to talk and see if they could suggest anything useful information, but it was worthless. He tried to remember the girls’ faces and, cleverly, after a few minutes he remembered that back in college, many years earlier -- right before he’d started dating Linda – he’d had an affair with a girl called Ashley, and that she looked very much like the blond girl who’d recently disappeared, and her best friend used to be a brunette just like the other girl. “Is this possible? Ashley? But... how? Why?” He finally decided to see if he could reach his old “girlfriend” somehow, and called again his buddies to see if any of them had kept in touch with her after all these years. The first friend he called was Paul, as he was the one who had introduced them and had hooked them up all those years ago.

Paul had been a very loyal friend, but nobody had heard from him for a long time. When he first looked for his number in his datebook, he realized he only had Paul's number from the time he used to live with his parents. "That's a problem" , he thought. But he decided to give it a try,anyway. He started to dial the numbers and when he heard the other side of the line saying "Hello" he noticed something rather scary was happening once more- he couldn't speak.

Completely desperate, he kept opening his mouth and trying with all the strenght he could to pronounce a single sound, but it was completely impossible. He thought he was going crazy; no, actually he thought he was dreaming. Yeah, everything was nothing but a bad dream and he was going to wake up at any moment now. Come on, wake up. Wake Up! He couldn't believe this was happening to him. Shaking and crying, he ran to the bathroom to look some kind of medicine to help to recover his voice once again and he looked at his image reflected on the mirror- he had deep wounds around his mouth. They looked rotten and infected by some dangerous bacteria. Feeling completely frightened, he heard a noise and looked behind. And there was the blond girl again, staring at him. Holding a head on her hands. A head with rotten wounds around his mouth.

For one split second, he thought about his whole life, his childhood and how his parents used to tell him off when he behaved badly, the baseball team where he had played when he was at school and all those nice classmates he had. Then, he thought about his little child. Sophia was 7 years old and still not making sense of what happened to her father, why he had left home. She blamed him for being away from home while he reproached himself for not having prepared his innocent daughter for the separation. Now he had to something, he had so many things to do, he couldn’t die without telling his daughter what really happened.

"What is it that you want?" He asked the blond girl - silence - she kept staring at him. "I have the right to know, you psycho!" "Listen", she replied smilingly, "you have 7 hours to cure the rotten wounds on this head, 7 hours. You cannot leave the house and you cannot ask for help. If you break the rules, your own wounds will spread all over your body. Now, hold the head carefully." And she vanished.

Quite unexpectedly, he remembered the blond’s face, an ex two-timing bitch girlfriend of his from high school who fell in love with him just because he was the first one she'd had sex with. She used to give him hard times, a bossy, jealous, overprotective girl. Not surprisingly her ghost appeared for him, she left town right after they broke up and nobody ever knew her whereabouts. Anyway, from that point on, his life would never be the same again, he realized numbly. Pooped out from his nine-to-five job and disoriented, he just dozed off. After falling into the deep sleep of exhaustion, he got up at 7.

¡You do not waste your time with annoying rules!

Clayton Cardoso, CPE3, evenings

Lack of Time

It’s been a while since I last made my contribution to our beloved blog and I could easily justify such an outrage by complaining about how crazy my life is and, consequently, how busy I am. (I’m really going nuts, trust me).

However, I am also very used to saying that lack of time is “the lamest” excuse ever for those who are getting hooked on excuses: “Ah, teacher, I don’t have time to read such a big text”, “Ah, John, no time to go out with you today” and such and such. And then, without even noticing – surely due to our endless lack of time -, this freaking machine of finding excuses is created.

Gosh! We are ALWAYS looking for a good reason not to do something – and, please, a VERY sentimental reason so that we can get people to feel sorry for us. What an annoying habit!!!! Have you ever thought about the amount of hours we waste making up excuses?

I mean, we are very often concerned about trying to explain why something didn’t happen, but, honestly, it seems to me that it would be 5 thousand times less complicate if we just... acted!

So... Here I am... acting!

Basically this is a forgive-me-folks post. I love writing – so much that I wish I could make tons of dollars just by putting words together (ha!). There are no excuses when we love something and really want this something to become reality. NO EXCUSES AT ALL. So.... from now on, you can just punch me if I don’t write at least one post a week, ok?

Have a great day!

PS: Read the post, you lazy I-don’t-have-time-for-long-stuff pal!

PS2: I strongly suggest you to read “The White Tiger”! What an amazing book!

By Dé Benedetto, CPE 1 - Mornings

Translation

Last week I had the privilege to meet some very friendly people from the TSA (Transportation Security Administration), ANAC (Agência Nacional de Aviação Civil), Departamento de Polícia Federal and also some colleagues from my own company, INFRAERO, that I hadn't had the pleasure to meet before.

The TSA is a component of the Department of Homeland Security, formed immediately following the tragedies of Sept. 11 and is responsible for the security of the USA nation's transportation systems. One of their functions is to oversee security systems of airports with flights to the United States and as this is our case, a TSA team came to observe Guarulhos.

Four days before their arrival, my boss told me that our security manager needed someone who spoke English to accompany them and help with the language. I told him that I had never done translation before in my life but, of course, I would help. All I could do was to take a look at the terms related to security to familiarize myself with the lexis beforehand, since this isn't my area. In case you don't know, air traffic controllers work with safety, not security.

To my astonishment, on the first day of the visit, the security manager told me that we were going to the auditorium and the superintendent was going to speak in Portuguese about the airport, not only to the TSA team, but also to the ANAC members, some Federal Police officers and the representatives of the airlines involved. And they needed me to translate it simultaneously to English. Ok, it was not that simultaneous because he was going to say something, then stop so that I had time to translate and then continue... Luckily for me, there was someone among the americans who could spoke portuguese, and she agreed to sit beside me to help. Her name is Rukhsana and she lived in Brasília when she was a child. It's thanks to her that I felt more confident and could do the job. But in the end I thought I could have done it much better because my main problem was that I was not able to record everything he said and then I passed only the idea, not literally.

During their visit, I went to places in the airport that I'd never gone before, such as the Federal Police kennel where they train dogs to sniff out drugs in people's luggage which by the way in one of these days I actually could see a dog on duty. It was amazing when the agent planted a bag with drugs amid a bunch of thirty others as a demonstration and it still could find the drugs. After surrounding all the airport perimeter, I realized how large it is. There was a day that we walked through terminals 1 and 2 on the two floors, so they could observe all the luggage entrances and all the access points where passengers are screened before getting on a plane. I thoroughly enjoyed it, but I have to confess that in the end my legs and feet were aching all over.

On the last day of their visit, we had an out-brief in a conference room and again I had to translate it in front of a group of people. But by that time after having been talking to them for the whole week, my translation skills had considerably improved. While they talked and expressed their feelings I translated from Portuguese to English and vice versa and although I say so myself, I think I did a great job.

By André Teodoro, CPE3, evenings.

Very HOT post

Last Saturday I experienced an emergency situation - my building caught fire. After waking up on Friday at around four thirty, studying, commuting, attending a metting, going to a job interview, I finally got home at 23 PM and fell asleep right away. Next morning I had to wake up very early once again, since I still had classes to prepare and teach in the morning. I was going to spend the whole afternoon in my bed. When I had finished bushing my teeth, I heard people screaming from the buildings next to mine. I rushed to the window and saw smoke and fire some floors below.

I alerted my roommate and urged her to grab her valuables and run away. I did the same, and we kept going downstairs and ringing as many bells as possible. I soon discovered that most of my neighbors are old people, who either wouldn't open the door or were too slow to react. Three floors below, we found out that the smoke was already thick and the only reasonable thing to do was to run for our own lives. Then somebody had a brilliant idea down in the lobby: to cut off the electricity.

That was when I panicked. The halls and the stairways were swarming, and using the elevator is not an option under these circumstances. It was already very difficult to breathe, and suddenly we couldn't see anything. The situation was one of stampede, with too many people wanting to go down, and another bunch wanting to go up. Looking back now, it reminded me of the movie Blindness, based on a book by Saramago, in which people lose their sight and start behaving in unexpected ways. Eventually I managed turn on my cellphone light and go up along the stairway wall. After going past many crying old ladies I finally got to the top of the building.

Things got calmer when I saw lots of fire vehicles and the fire was evidently controlled. That was the way I got to know most of my neighbors, but I wish I had known them in a different way.

Clayton Cardoso, CPE3, evenings

What's happening?

I'm afraid that my posts may seem repetitive since I can only write about literature or movies, but today I'll try to talk about an impression I've been having for a while and I want to share it.
I like reading best sellers and I'm a huge fan of the greatest of them - Harry Potter, obviously. LOL
I have absolutely nothing against reading, buying, downloading, sharing and loving best sellers. And I also enjoy blockbuster movies. No, I haven't watched an Woody Allen movie yet and yes, I really enjoyed watching Iron Man. What's the big deal?
Nothing, really.
I don't judge people by the books they read or the movies they watch (although I believe that the sentence "The books you read are often a guide to your character" is a great one- but that's something to be discussed in another post) but I can't understand when someone says he doens't like reading or hates watching movies. I've already heard: "I hate watching movies with subtitles". Spooky hun? But it can get spookier ;)

On one hand, I believe that Brazilian people have been through a weird and good process recently. People are reading more, watching more movies, going more to the theater and that's pretty good. On the other hand, there's a strange thing happening in Brazil that I'm curious to know if it's common in other countries in the world as well. Maybe some day I'll find out.
It seems to me that Brazilian people only work under the pressure of something which is fashionable.
A couple of years ago, The Kite Runner was a best seller in Brazil. Ok, so then we only read literature on Afghanistan way of life. Have you read The daVinci Code? And how many other similar books have you read as well? Books on religion, symbols, destroying the image of the church... Have you watched "Caminho das Indias"? No? Well even though you haven't watched, I think that the first bookstore you come across you'll be able to find several books on India. Weird.Maybe not.
This nowadays phenomenon is kind unusual. It's extremely cool to like Vampires. They are everywhere- they are late though, the wizards came first and rocked our worlds =)
I don't know if this is a good thing or not, if it really doesn't matter why we are reading more- the important thing is that we're reading. But to my mind, if we keep on following these certain tendencies we may not find new horizons which can contribute so much more to our lives. If we keep only reading about Vampires we will never get the chance to read a classic, because we're not used to it. Language is different, plots are different, time is always different and that's why reading is so much fun =)

Reading does not only transport you to Hogwarts or Afghanistan. Literature can take you everywhere any time you want. You just have to open your eyes to it =)


By Carol Colaneri, evening group

My Top 5 Best Books I've Read

I was still thinking about the books I’ve read and I decided to write about them. But saying that a book is the best or the worst is really hard since it depends not only on the book you read, but also when you read it. I mean, how old were you when you read it or how was your life or your feelings, what were your needs at that specific time? I truly believe that these elements will influence on your perception of any book.

Well, unfortunately I’m not used to devour books and I haven’t read many, but here my small contribution goes:

1 – The Prophet, by Kahlil Gibran – I was 16 or 17 when I read this inspirational book and it really guided me in some aspects of my life. It is poetic and philosophical in the way it deals with all basic elements of life. It’s a book to read and think about the human nature. It helped me to be more tolerant with others.

2 – Learning Teaching, by Jim Scrivener – Remember when I mentioned above the “needs”. When I read this book I was desperate! My company had asked me to teach Aviation English for my colleagues when I had never taught anything before in my life. As I really wanted to try something different, I accepted the challenge and ran to the internet to find something that could help me when I came across this incredible book. The title caught my attention for obvious reason. Then I immediately bought it and read it in about two weeks. In the end, I was much more confident since the book guided me from the very first day of my classes and even nowadays when I have some doubts or want to try something new with my students I look at it.

3 – The Da Vince Code, by Dan Brown – A brilliant book that made me think about religion, which is interesting seeing that I’m not a religious person.

4 – The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini – This one I finished reading last month and it was the only book that made me cry.

5 – Journey to the Centre of the Earth, by Jules Verne – Jules Verne was a fantastic writer. His imagination had no boundaries. What kind of drugs he used? He wrote this book having never left France and his readers were always in doubt about his stories. They never knew if they were reading fiction or factual events.

By André Teodoro - CPE3 evenings.

Media Credibility Sinks to New Low: Blame the Internet?

A Pew Research Center study indicates that Americans' trust of the media is the lowest it's been since at least 1985, the first year that the study took readings. What role has the rise of the Web played in this trend? Instead of a handful of trusted national dailies and a few TV stations, news consumers now have a wider variety of sources -- and many more outlets for media criticism.

Full article

Clayton, CP3, evenings

My baby sister rules!

As you guys from CPE evenings already know, Adriana is my sister, my dear lovely baby sister; and I’ve decided to make this post as up close and personal as possible … actually I am writing straight to my sister! (If the dear reader is still interested feel free to snoop a bit!)

Adri, first of all, let me remind you that this is the first time in our lives we are in the same class. We’ve studied in the same schools, took the same courses but never as classmates. So it’s a new experience for both of us and it is absolutely lovely to spend our Friday nights together (of course we could have decided to go out, have some beers and chat, but coming to CPE classes is a bigger pleasure because I know we are going to meet, chat, laugh, gossip and even if we don’t have some beers after, it’s ok!).

Adri, taking the same course with you wouldn’t cross my mind less than a year ago. Life is complicated and sometimes we chip in too much to make it even messier! The only reason we are here today is because I love you and I wouldn’t allow anything or anyone in this galaxy to tear us apart! I know we spent a long time a bit distant but it seems to me it was a thousand years ago. I feel as if I had never lost touch with you as if we had always been together like we are today!

Adri, I admire your personality and your sense of humor amuses me. The way you face life’s challenges is positive and brave. You enjoy the small joys of life like no one else. The best coxinha in the world, the coolest glass of Coke are exciting and delightful. All the amount of energy you spend keeping the whole world updated about your birthday’s countdown! It is so cute! It is totally cute!

Let me explain for the ones who don’t know you that well … Adriana spends around 30 days of the year (starting August 12^th) in the pursue of a personal tradition ... a daily countdown to her birthday! Yes, dear folks she reminds everyone (family, friends, boyfriend, and who else is around) that its only 30, 29, 28, 27, 26, 25, … days left to her birthday!

So 09/11 is not a world day of grief, it is just the day before her birthday, which is and will forever be the most important event of the month. Let’s face it! Bin Laden tried to get some attention, but Adriana will never give up!

Be sure that for the ones that love you, September will always be all about you!

Happy birthday tomorrow!

Love always

Eli

By Eli Manzano, CPE 3, Evenings.

Moving in..Moving out

My holiday was the beginning of the end. Actually, I do hope that this is the end of dozens of changes of places that I had to do throughout my life.

It all started when I was 2 years old and my father lost our house. He was just too naive and mortgaged our house to invest in his small company. Consequently, he lost both of them and our family had to live in a tiny room at my grandmother´s house.

The years after that incident were not different; without money, we had to live in other people´s houses, most of the times for short periods and in small rooms (imagine 5 people living in one room). It was difficult and I hated all of that because I couldn't make friends at school, we always had to move out and start all over again in a different neighborhood.

I can roughly count 6 changes of places in 10 years. It just stopped when I was 12 years old and my father finally got a paid job. It was not too much, just 1.000 reais, but it was enough to pay a rent. I remember that day when we entered the house, 2 bedrooms, 1 bathroom, living room and kitchen, we didn´t have furniture, there were not table and sofa, but for me everything was perfect, we finally had our home.

I lived there 7 years and just left to live with my husband. As a matter of fact, that time he was not my husband yet. I can honestly say that my parents got crazy when their 19-year-old daughter decided to move in with her boyfriend to his apartment. The apartment was very old, but for the first time I had my own place and, of course, my first bills. I was a trainee, but I was doing great in Marketing and money (for the first time in my whole life) was not an issue. The arguments with my parents just ended when we decided to get married 2 years later.

Not surprisingly, considering my life, my husband and I moved into a brand-new apartment 4 years ago. We were very happy there until we decided to have a baby, and there is not better place to bring up a child than a house. So, can you imagine what happened?

Although we are living in an old but great house with front and back yard for our baby, my husband wants more, and he got more. Two weeks ago we bought a new house, a bigger one in a residential neighborhood, I know that it is a new moving out, but living there has been his dream since he was a little boy and now it finally came true.

Last but not least, my holiday was inside the new house, taking notes and pictures, discussing what we need to do before moving and how much we can spend on these things; in short, getting prepared (again!!!) for this new move. I do hope this is the last one, I really do, but who knows about the future? Let´s just wait for what will happen.

Daiana Cabral Barbosa, CPE 1, Morning

I wish

Today's class was all about teaching my High Inter 2 students the structure I wish. That was when this idea crossed my mind, and I decided to be just a bit selfish and write a post completely dedicated to my wishes. Here it goes:

I wish I were more organized. God, sometimes I cannot even recognize myself, such a great mess is the one I'm living. I wish I could sleep 12 hours a day. Every day.

I wish I could feel more inspiration when writing something for the blog or a paper for college, for instance... I really love writing, but I have to muster all my strenght to write a simple paragraph.
I wish I had more time -- more available time in fact -- and then I would be able to do whatever I wanted. Reading, eating, sleeping, dancing, crying, laughing, watching, listening... It wouldn't really matter, since I'd have all the time in the world.

I wish I could meet all the people (writers, actors, singers) who have already meant something in my life. I wish I could visit New York and have the chance to visit Central Perk.
I wish I could talk to Leonardo Di Caprio and tell him I've already had a notebook with his picture on the cover.

I wish I had a good idea like JK Rowling had when she idealized Harry Potter or J.J. Abrams when he first started shooting Lost. I wish I had created Shrek. I wish I could give Tom Hanks a big hug and tell a joke to Jim Carrey and see if he thinks I'm funny. I wish I could avoid people from crying, especially the ones I truly love. I wish I could make everyone happy.

I wish I had danced like Olive did at the end of Little Miss Sunshine. I wish I were Little Mermaid.

I wish I could eat everything I want and not put on a single pound of weight. I wish I could be as smart as Bill Gates. And as rich as him as well.

I wish I could speak all the languages in the world, at least the eastern ones. Then, I wish I could teach all of them. I wish children would like reading since the very begining of their lives and adults would continue reading until the very end of their lives. I wish I had a library.

I wish I were part of some musical and then I would be able to bring some brightness to other people's lives. I wish I could sing and dance --I can live without acting =) . I wish I were Youtube's owner, or if you think I'm asking too much , I accept the idea of being Orkut's owner ;) - they are the same, aren't they?

I wish I had an infinite quantity of boxes of BIS. I wish everything would taste like watermelon. But everyting would smell like carrot and chocolate cake.

I wish I had a dog...

****

I know that all these wishes may not come true one day (possibly LOL), but it doesn't hurt to ask for all of them, right?

They are just wishes after all... and I wish, I wish, I wish.... ;)



By Carolina Colaneri -cpe evenings

Living more healthily

In this junk food age you have to be more careful about what you eat than you think. My theory is based on the change of scenario that we face nowadays. In my opinion, there are two things that can be considered the biggest villains: junk food and cars.

Starting with the first, junk food is completely harmful to you. Your body needs a daily amount of different substances in order for it to work well, and guess how many of those junk food has? If you guessed none, then you are completely right! Junk food generally has oil and other substances full of fat. Therefore, they only provide fat to your body, making you sick (by not providing the substances it needs, such as proteins) and fat.

Since cars were made, traffic has got worse and worse. At the same level, it is the best source of stress, which makes your body sick and weak. In small cities where there isn’t much traffic, adults who work can generally go home to eat lunch and then they can eat more healthily; and those who work in bigger cities generally have to go to restaurants to eat.

While the first citizens can, in only 1 hour, go home, eat well and go back to work, as well as go fast to work as there isn’t much traffic so there isn’t the same level of stress as the second ones, the second can’t go home, generally eat worse and take hours to go from home to work and vice-versa.

In conclusion, in order for you to get a healthier body here are some tips:

* Try to eat as healthily as possible, always avoiding fried food and candies;

* Walk as much as you can leaving your car at home – this way you are doing good twice: to your body and to the environment;

* Don’t take too many hours between one meal and the other, have a little snack (fruit, for instance) that is delicious and nutritive – your body will appreciate and will respond in a good way;

* Find time to do what you like, whatever it is - so it can reduce your levels of stress;

* Don’t worry be happy – I know this isn’t new advice, but it is worth trying. I am sure you will not regret.

By Mariana Aith, CPE 3 - Evenings

Funny story...

I decided to tell you guys a very nice and funny story. It's that kind of thing that only teachers laugh about, and as we are part of this really selected group... Enjoy it!!!

A friend of mine was taking the Celta course. We worked at a school that paid it for us (I've got the cetificate as well). She was going berserk with the class preparations, assignments, tutors and, of course, students. I am not sure if you all know, but during the course we are supposed to teach and we are evaluated on that. And what's more, we have real students, so it's not that fake thing we usually face when we are in school trainings and we have to teach teachers where everybody pretends to be a student ans we pretend to be teaching.

So, she was teaching an Intermediate course and that day she had to talk about routine and favorite free time activities. She prepared the class, wrote the lesson plan, made dozens of paper slips and went to the course. There she was, all set to start the class, feeling nervous for obvious reasons but ready to face THE enemy.

She started the class, a great warmer to try to make the tutors go easier on her and to break the ice and then lead in, presentation. Finally, practice, "So, guys tell about yourself now", she started, "what are your favorite free time activities? What do you do to have fun? Do you go to the movies?"
She asked the questions indiviadually and then said "Bruno, what about you?", he said, "I titi bisni, I swimi atleti, I eventis". "Really????", "How interesting!", (that's so teacher-like), "but out of these 3 activities which one is your favorite?", "I titi bisni, I swimi atleti, I eventis".

She changed the question, mimed, tried to speak German, but he just kept saiyng the same incomprehensible sentence.There was nothing she could do. Speak Portuguese? No way!!! Change the subject? Not a good idea. She simply ignored the guy and tried to finish the class.

I was told this story and I share it with all the teachers I know. It's brillant, isn't it??

AHHHHHHHHH!!!!!! Later on, she managed to talk to him and find out what he meant:
he was an administration student, he had swimming classes and he was a waiter!

By Adriana Manzano, CPE 3, evenings.

CPE 1 - Mornings

And at last here's a picture of our CPE 1 in the mornings!

Left to right: Marisol, Veronica, Denis, Higor, Débora, Ana, Celiana and Daiana.

Fine, fine people! :)

H.

Twouble with Twitters: SuperNews!

Clayton, CPE3, evenings

English is toughest European language to read

Despite being the world's lingua franca, English is the most difficult European language to learn to read. Children learning other languages master the basic elements of literacy within a year, but British kids take two-and-a-half years to reach the same point. (...)

Full article

Clayton, CP3, evenings

Holiday

Today is Monday and it’s now 5 in the godforsaken morning. I can’t sleep at all.
I’ve just finished reading a book (High Fidelity, by Nick Hornby) and apparently there is nothing left around here but my laptop. Considering it’s been a while since I last contributed to this blog, I thought it was about time I wrote something. Anything.

Here I am.

My holiday was very... peculiar. Surreal, if I dare to say. (I shouldn’t be using a past tense now. There’s another long day ahead... Who knows what’s gonna happen?). I could easily write a sad book about my September 7th memories, but I just don’t feel like going through all the shitty events that happened to me. Not today. I’ll spare you.

Instead, I’m gonna use this top 5 idea (I’ve just read the book, for f*** sake!) to show you why I’m not suffering from the annoying I-had-tons-of-fun-for-four-days happiness. Forgive my bitterness.

Here I go:

1) I worked on Saturday. God... I can’t get used to it. I’ve been waking up early on Saturdays for the past 4 or 5 years and it’s always painful. It ruins my weekends, really. I mean... I love my students, teaching is huge part of who I am, but.... COME ON! People shouldn’t work on holidays!
2) I went to Campinas unintentionally. Ok. I didn’t really GO to Campinas, but I was on my way to doing so. Yesterday I was trying to go home after a spooky evening at Shopping Market Place (Even though THAT was my worst moment in... let’s say... 22 years, I won’t talk about it. It involves hurting the only person I would die for. My heart is broken.) and I ended up at Rodovia Bandeirantes. Shame on me.
3) The Orphan is the worst movie ever. After getting lost in my own city, I decided to watch The Orphan. I’m crazy about horror movies, I thought it would help boost my humor. I called my brother, we went to the pictures (!). I paid for both tickets. The movie hadn’t even finished when we left. Piece of garbage.
4) I’m sleepy and cranky. It’s almost 6 in the morning. No need to explain that one.
5) No plans for today. Maybe I’ll use another beautiful sunny day to prepare classes. Shame on me 2.

What about yourselves, folks? Share you happiness. Share your misfortunes. Just share whatever you feel like sharing. That’s the point of having a blog, eh?


PS: My top 5 books: 1)Hamlet by William Shakespeare. 2) Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie. 3) Othelo by William Shakespeare. 4)Memórias Póstumas de Brás Cubas by Machado de Assis. 5) O Xangô de Baker Street by Jô Soares.

by Débora Benedetto, CPE 1- mornings

My Top 5 Best Books I've Ever Read...So Far!!!

Hello, I'm Ana Paula from the CPE morning group and I'm new here. By the way, congratulations, the blog is really good and I know I should've written a post before, but here's my humble contribution. LOL

Reading for me is just more than an activity or a habit, but a way of connecting to different things through words, thoughts and imagination, which surely makes me a better thinking human being. That is why Literature is truly one of my passions and I wish I had more available time to read all the books from the writers I love.

So, it's really difficult to make a list of my top 5 books, since there are so many of them that fascinate me, but I'll try:

5 - NATIVE SON, Richard Wright: A great drama about prejudice and social discrimination in the USA during the 50's in which, because of the racial segregation, black and white people could not share the same rights. More than referring to the crime that the main character is responsible for, when he, a black young man, kills his boss's white daughter, Wright describes the stupidity and unfairness of social inequalities in a prejudiced society, making you question if even after the "end" of the segregation in the USA, and after people like Martin Luther King and Obama's election, there still seems to be room for prejudice, not only there, but all around us and mostly, inside of us.

4 - O CRIME DO PADRE AMARO, Eça de Queiróz: It was the first book I read by Eça and I remember doing it because I had read about him when studying Portuguese Literature still in High School, and I wanted to know more about him. He's a really awesome writer and in this wonderful novel he shows the true colors of tradition, religion, alienation and hierarchy within the hypocritical Portuguese society during the middle of the 18th century. It's just amazing!

3 - ENSAIO SOBRE A CEGUEIRA, José Saramago: And there goes my passion for some Portuguese writers! It's just that you cannot die before reading anything by Saramago in your life!!! This particular novel indicates the sublime intelligence and criticism of a writer whose own writing style and relevance leads the reader to rethink what it means to see in this crazy world that we live in. Are we really using our ability to see things or are we drowning in our own blindness day by day without seeing/realizing it?

2 - PRIDE AND PREJUDICE, Jane Austen: As a devoted fan of English Literature, choosing Jane Austen here symbolizes my due respect to all the greatest English writers such as Thomas Hardy, the Brontë Sisters, Charles Dickens, Daniel Defoe, Virginia Woolf and so on. Jane Austen is not only a writer but a myth, and this novel makes you think about the real roles of women and men in our capitalist-chauvinistic-prejudiced society in which material values are more important than feelings. And there's nothing left to say, just: "It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife".

1 - MEMÓRIAS PÓSTUMAS DE BRÁS CUBAS, Machado de Assis: Machado is the real reason I love literature because he does not write to entertain you but to challenge you, to trick you, to make you feel misarable when he refers to something you don't know, to get you more and more curious about his intentions when writing the way he does, to criticize what is considered right and wrong, that is, to transform you into a better reader and intelectual person. This novel is one of the greatest achievements in Brazilian Literature and just UNBELIEVABLE. You have to read it to know the feeling!

That's it, guys. Hope you've enjoyed... maybe it's too much Literature but it's what I simply love reading.

See you!!!

Lost in Translation

I think I could start each and every one of my posts the same way. It’s been a hectic week!

Unspeakable loads of work and in order to keep my reading updated I set CPE’s blog page as the first site to enter once I hit internet Explorer. Good idea, huh?

This is why I’ve been reading the posts, I haven’t posted any comments because I’m very shy … and saw Denis’s about funny Spanish accent and I was inspired to write about translation.

I’ve been working with translations for quite a while and to me it’s a fascinating topic! I have learned huge amounts of words because I had to read about topics ranging from accounting to pineapple cultivation. Probably the vocabulary related to the textile sector or machinery won’t be very useful for the CPE but I had fun uncovering these areas.

Translation is also a very interesting topic specially to prove to students that English is actually a different language and you cannot translate word by word without taking into consideration the context, the structure of the language and, of course, the whole meaning!

I don’t really know who told me or sent me something about ChinEnglish, maybe it was one of those emails we usually receive with “It’s really funny” in the subject. The fact is: ChinEnglish is the best example for bad translation and incredibly good to definitely reassure my confidence, there are people with a far far far worse English than me! And they translate official signs!

I took some examples for our amusement!

This is exactly what is on our mind while we are slipping, isn’t it?

Ok, the “no smoking” is perfect, even though I can’t imagine why there are so many symbols only to state that smoking is not allowed.

I think speaking cell phones are creepy and should be absolutely forbidden not only when there’s a heavy rain!

Question: is it all right to litter in another direction?

Very difficult! How am I supposed to put a filthy tower into a basket?

If you wish to LOL big time check also

http://www.flickr.com/photos/oberst_family/2866549357/in/set-72157607355806445/

http://www.micktravels.com/china/signs.html

http://www.actagena.org/pictures/China/Chinenglish/index.html

See you on Friday!

Elisangela Manzano

CPE evenings

My Top 5- the best books I've read

I truly believe that this post is a very good idea, still I don't feel comfortable writing it. It seems to me me that choosing only 5 books is some kind of betrayal with all the other books I've read LOL. Well, if you stop to think about it, I believe they'll get over it some day. I'm their owner, for God's sake, and I take really good care of them, so they can't complain. =)

My Top 5 will be out of order. If it is so difficult to choose 5 books, it's even more difficult to put them in order of preference. Here it goes:

Book 5- São Bernardo, Graciliano Ramos. I am this huuuuge fan of English Literature, but I believe that I must choose a Brazilian book for my top 5. Since Memórias Póstumas has already been listed here in the blog, I'll go with São Bernardo. I read this book during my second year at college. I was taking Literatura Brasileira with one of the best professors I've had and I actually loved this story. For those who don't know it, it tells the story of a farmer called Paulo Honório who is married to Madalena, a teacher. He has a very big farm (which he got by questionable means), he has money, he likes Madalena...but he doesn't have something she has- literacy. So we have here a polemic relationship of power: Who can dominate more? Madalena with her words or Paulo Honório the one that thinks that material possessions are everything?

Book 4 - A menina que roubava livros When I first heard of this book I couldn't imagine it would add so many important things to my life. This book tells the story of Liesel, a German girl living in the period of the Second World War, a moment in which people didn't have anything, not even hope. But Liesel had something that was extremely valuable: books. If you're still not convinced of reading this book, I'll tell one of the most peculiar aspects of it: In a time where death was everywhere, the narrator of this story is the Death itself.

Book 3 - Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix It's basicaly impossible to choose only one of the Harry Potter's books. I really love them all, but if I had to choose one, it would be The Order of The Phoenix. This book shows an important moment of transition. Harry is not a child anymore. The school is not the same. Voldemort is back. And Harry has (actually, Harry and I have) to deal with the loss of a loving character for the first time. This book divides Harry's life, now he is ready to fight.

Book 2- Rachel's Holiday Marian Keyes is a great writer. She writes books about women that really could be part of our circle of friends. Rachel's Holiday tells the story of Rachel, an addict to drugs and alchool who, after almost dying, goes to rehab. I don't know if this is my favorite book written by Marian, but I've chosen it since it is the first that really made me a fan of hers.

Book 1 - Wuthering Heights This is one of those books you read and you can't simply imagine why everything is happening the way it's happening. Heathcliff and Kathy are the characters of one of the most troubled love stories I've read. I am not sure if it's actually love, I would say it's more an obsessive relationship. It is also very good since it tells the story through the eyes of the maid, therefore we have a neutral point of view in which we can trust.
Great story. Great characters. Great lines. Great ending. I love it.


All right guys, this is my top 5 =) so difficult to choose, but here it is =)


By Carolina Colaneri, CPE 3, evenings.

Pick two

Clayton, CPE3, evenings

My Top 5 (plus 2)

I´m sorry Higor but I have to be fair and divide my Top 5 into Brazilian and foreign writers.

My list is:

Brazilian Writers

1 - Feliz Ano Velho, by Marcelo Rubens Paiva (it is an amazing and real story that portrays pain and happiness using the recent Brazilian History as background – I was lucky to meet the writer in a fair 10 years ago);

2 - Primeiras Estórias, by João Guimarães Rosa (I´ve read it twice, I cried and laughed in both of them);

3 - Contos Novos, by Mario de Andrade (I just love the Modernists, specially this book of Mario's, because all of the short stories happened in a São Paulo that I would have loved to live in);

4 - Memórias Póstumas de Braz Cuba, by Machado de Assis (there is not so much to talk about it, except that it is the best book ever written in Portuguese - I have read the book twice, I just loved the movie and the play is outstanding);

5 - Crônicas Escolhidas, by Rubem Braga (the short stories show the bohemian Rio de Janeiro, and the importance of the little moments of our lives).

Foreign Writers

1 - Selected Tales, by Edgar Allan Poe (I fell in love with Poe when I was 17 years old because I found out that he was a huge influence on Machado de Assis and the inventor of detective stories– I read him in Portuguese at first and then in English, which, I have to confess, is very difficult);

2 - The Witching Hour, by Anne Rice (I have read all her books, but this one is different because it portrays a family of powerful wicthes since the medieval age up to now, it is an odyssey with 1.000 pages);

3 - Die Verwandlung (A Metamorfose), by Franz Kafka (I read the book in portuguese and is pure fantastic realism with lots of metaphors - delightful);

4 - And Then There Were None, by Agatha Christie (when I first read Agatha Christie I was 12 years old, and since then I have never stopped reading her– I have got approximately 30 books of hers, some in Portuguese others in English – I am just crazy about detective stories, it doesn´t matter if it is in a book, movie or tv series);

5 - Sofies verden (O mundo de Sofia), by Jostein Gaarder (I first read it when I was 17 years old and it is important to me because it was the first book that I bought with my own money, and when I started reading it opened my eyes to a whole new world – I have to confess that I have been reading it for the second time after 11 eleven years and it is amazing how a book can change when you read it again, actually only the great ones can do it).

So, that´s all folks!

Daiana Cabral Barbosa, CPE 1, mornings

How games change your brain

Mind Research Institute

This graphic shows areas of the brain that functioned more efficiently after three months of video-game practice (blue) as well as areas where the cortex became thicker (red). The left and right views show the left and right brain hemispheres.

(...) the Tetris players' brain function became more efficient in areas linked to critical thinking, reasoning, language and information processing (...)

Full article

Clayton, CPE3, evenings

No more Moses' Ark

Higor, according to the British National Corpus, common collocations with Moses' are Moses' life, Moses' intercession, and Moses' leadership.

But that doesn't prevent you from keeping your pun :)

Clayton, CPE3, evenings.

My Top 5 books! - Denis - CPE morning

Oh well, since I'm here, loggen on, I decided to do away with (see - phrasal verbs) all my online homework, namely, the blog, soon!

Here comes my list:

1. The Bible - Author - About 44 men whose names it would take a lot of time writing, but in short - God himself through those men.

2. The Left Behind Series - Tim Lahaye & Jerry B. Jenkins - actually this novel is a series of 12 books narrating the Earth last days, actually seven years, after the Capture.

3. Forrest Gump - Winstom Groom - It was also made into a blockbuster film, which I simply love, starring Tom Hanks. The book has some more details and events, such as Forrest being a wrestler. Worth reading.

4. O Xangô de Baker Street - Jô Soares - I couldn't put the book down. It is great!

5. The Hobbit - J. J. Tolkien - It is a must to find out about the begginning of the Middle Earth, and how Bilbo Baggins got the ring in the first place! Smeagol has always been disgusting, though.

The other day I came across a quote and I took it for life!

Never judge a book by its film!

So, even if you have seen the film, I'd tell you to read the book. Just to push it a little bit, I must mention a possible sixth position - which is The Chronicles of Narnia Series! Sorry, I had to... and also the Winter King, by Ben Cornwell. And also...

Funny Spanish Accent

Greetings for all at the Fellowship of the CPE,

Since I had promised our dearest teacher I would post something, I logged in, spent some minutes staring at an eager blinking cursor -which was probably wondering why in the world I was taking so long to just key something in - in my head: Blank!

Browsed through some new interesting topics on the news - Nada!

So, no sooner had I opened my hotmail account than I came across an e-mail which an American friend of mine had sent me. I remember that I laughed a lot when I first read it and I hope you do too.

She remarked that it must be read aloud having in mind your best Mexican accent, or someone whose mother-tongue is Spanish. You must imagine someone with strong Spanish accent! Here it goes:

1.Cheese
The teacher told Pepito to use the word cheese in a sentence.
Pepito replies:
'Maria likes me, pero Cheese fat.'.

2. Mushroom
' When all my family get in the car, there's not mushroom.'

3. Shoulder
'My Tia wanted 2 become a citizen but she didn't know how to read so I shoulder.'

4. TEXAS
'My girl always Texas me when I'm not home wondering where I'm at! '

5. Herpes
' Me and my girl ordered pizza. I got mine piece and she got herpes.'

6. July
'Ju told me ju were going to tha store and July to me! Julyer! Ju didn't go to any store!'

7.Rectum
'I had 2 cars pero my wife rectum!'

8. What Is
'One day my abuelita slapped me and I said juarez your problem?'

9.Chicken
'I was going to go to the store with my wife pero chicken go herself.'

10.Wheelchair
'We only have one empanada left but don't worry wheelchair '

11.Chicken wing
'My wife plays the lottery so chicken wing'

12. Body wash
'I want to go to the club but no body wash my kids '


Denis - CPE mornings

The Evening Group

This is the evening CPE group:

Standing (left to right): Adriana Manzano, Eli, Sandra, Higor, Doug, Mariana, Ricardo, Kátia, André, Luiz Carlos, Clayton (in black) and Rogério.

Sitting, kneeling, crouching, leaning (left to right): Vanessa, Carol, Priscila and Adriana C.

They rule!